Loading-machine attachment



F. K. HO LMESTED AND T. W. MITCHELL. LOADING MACHINE ATTACHMENT. APPLICATION FILED APR.14, 1921.

Patented Oct. 24, 1922.

Patented Got. 24, 1922.

. Far ers K, HOLMESTED, or CHARLESTON, awn rrinssronw. liZIKLCIiELL, or 'rrun'riiveron, wnsr VIRGINIA, nssrenoias "110 rnonoors 00., or

nontrrneron, wnsr vr'nenvra, a'oonronnrron or wnsr vrnernrn.

LOADING-DIAGHINE ATTACHMENT.

Application filed April 14,

To all when it may concern I, v

Beit known that we, FRANCIS, K. HOLME- s'rno and THURSTON W. MIT HELL, citizens of the United States, respectively residing at Charlestom'in the county of Kanawha, and Huntington, in the county of Cabell, and State of West Virginia, have invented new and useful Improvements in Loading-Machine Attachments, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to improvements in machines for loading coal and other material, and consists essentially of improvements on the type of machine disclosed by the patents of Francis K. Holmested, No. 1,290,200, of January 7, 1919, and 1,291,522, of January 14, 1919, and also illustrated. and described in the application of John W. Houghton and Thurston W. Mitchell, Serial No. 428,077. The improvement consists particularly ,in applying to the feed shovel or nose at the lower forward end of the inclined portion of a conveyer and cooperating with a reciprocating feed bar, forwardly projecting material-dislodging means, which operate to cause the material to fall relatively to the bulk of material operatedupon and drop on the feed shovel or nose. The primary object of theinvention is to provide, means in connection with the feed shovel or nose at the forward extremity of a conveyer which will operate to facilitate loading of material with .which the said shovel or nose is in engagement. especially when the feed shovel or nose is withdrawn from and reset in operative position or penetration relatively to the material to be loaded. 7

1n the accompanying drawing s Fig. 1 is a side elevation of the feed shovel or nose at the lower end of a conveyer, show ing the improvement applied thereto.

Fig. 2 is atop plan view of the feed shovel or nose as shown by Fig.1 with the improved attachment on opposite sides thereof, one side of the feedshovel or nose and one attachment. being illustrated in horizontal section. a v

Fig. 3 is a detail perspective view of the simplified form of the attachment.-

Fig. 4 is aviewsimilartoFig. 3, showing a modification of the attachment.

' As in the patented machines of Francis K. l-lolmested and the machine disclosed 1921. Serial No. 461,230.

by the pending application of Messrs. Houghton and Mitchell hereinbefore referred to, a conveyer 5 is comprised in the cooperating components of the loading machine, said conveyer having opposite beams 6 which incline downwardly a suitable distance and connect with, or have applied thereto, a feed shovel or nose, generally indicated by the numeral 8. From the lower feeding shovel or nose 8 upwardly over the inclined: portions of the beams 6 and continuing over the horizontal portion of said beams is a pan or trough 9, preferably formed of sheet metal of suitable thickness and firmly attached to the beams at opposite side edges. Suitable conveying means, such as cross bars or lags '10, have close movement upwardly over the pan or trough 9 and are actuatedby suitable mechanism forming no part of the present improvement. The feed shovel or nose 8 is of a practically unitary structure, or, is com posed of a metal strip or sheet of suitable dimens ns bent over at opposite sides to provide U-shaped housings or angular guides 11 with their inner opposite sides fully open. This shovel end or nose extends downwardly from the forward terminals of the beams 6 and for a greater portion of its length is straight "and at the same inclination as the beams. The-front extremity of the feed shovel or shovel end or nose is horizontally flat, as at 12, and the terminating end thereof beveled ofi", as at 13, in a downward and forward direction. Be tween the horizontal straight extremity 12 of the feed shovel or shovel end and the ren'laining straight inclined portion of the latter, a bend 14 is formed which is gradual and obviously necessary to dispose the said extremity 12 horizontally, and whereby the forward extremity of the shovel end or nose may be caused to practically penetrate the coal or material to be loaded or operated upon by the machine. The curved bend of the shovel end or nose is regularly carried out fully across the said end or nose and including the housings 11, and reciprocatingly mounted on and closely engaging the upper surface 15 of the shovel end or nose is a feed bar 16 which is angular in cross section, the opposite ends of the said bar being freely movable in and covered by the hous ngs or enclosing guides 11. The'feed bar 16 has a forward reduced edge 17 and a rear vertically straight side 18 disposed towards the movable elements of the conveyer. The rear straight side of the bar 16 provides a feeding shoulder to push coal or other material upwardly over the smooth surface of the shovel end or nose. To the opposite ends of the feed bar 16 flexible connections 19 are attached and composed of a plurality of links pivotally jointed to permit the connections to freely move over the shovel end and conform to the configuration "of the upper surface of the plate, which is 16 being movable over the shovel end or nose such distance as to bring up the material being loaded into operative engagement with the conveying means.

The foregoing structure is particularly disclosed by the application of Messrs. Thurston and Mitchellhereinbefore noted, and the improvement, as also hereinbefore indicated, consists of a material-displacing attachment, shown in detail by Fig. 3, and comprising a shank 22 conforming in 1011- gitudinal contour to the outer side of the shovel end or nose and having extending horizontally therethrough a plurality of openings 23 to receive attaching bolts and nuts or analogous devices 24* which pro ect outwardly from the opposite sides or the outer walls of the housings. for the flexible connections 19, as clearly shownby Fig. 2. The displacing attachment has at its forward end a fixed (.lisplacing wedge end or head 24; terminating in a rear vertically straight shoulder 25. 'One of these displacing attachments is applied to each side of the shovel end or nose and may be adjusted longitudinally by disconnecting the same and subsequently resetting it as desired. The solid wedge ends or heads 24 project some distance in advance of the forward terminal of the shovel end or nose, so that when the said shovel end or nose is caused to penetrate the bulk of material to be loaded by the loading machine, the wedge ends or heads 24: enter into the body or bulk of the material in advance of the said forward extremity of the shovel end or nose. When the shovel'end or nose 1s withdrawn v or moved rearwardly for the purpose of reto the material to be loaded, the'vertically straight shoulders 25 of the wedge ends or heads 2st drag the material forwardly therewith over to the feed bar 16, and, moreover the bulk of material that maybe standing above the wedge ends or heads 2 1- is caused to fall or drop over onto the forward extremity of the shovel'end for engagement by the feed bar 16, with material advantages in facilitating the loading operation. Instead of forming each displacing attachment with a single forward end or head 24: ofv solid wedgeshape, each forward extremity of the attachment maybe provided with a plurality of wedge devices 26, and the number of wedge devices may he in creased as desired. When the wedge ends or heads or devices 26 are used in plural form in connection with each displacing attachment. it will be understood that the latter will be modified in its proportions. which may be varied to accommodate the location of a number of wedge devices ahead of the forward extremity of the shovel end, the said plural wedge devices operating similarly to the single wedge devices or heads 24-. hereinbefore described.

The improved attachment is comparatively simple and may be applied to any ma chine now in use having corresponding de- "vices, such as the reciprocating feed bar 16 or any other analogous feed means.

What is claimed as new is:

1. The combination with the shovelend of a conveyer of a loading machine having means for moving material to the conve-yer, of a material-displacing attachment applied to the opposite sides and in part projecting materially in advance of the terminal of the shovel end in fixed horizontal positions each attachment having fixed wedge means on the upper edges thereof and adapted to penetrate the material and displace the latter when the shovel end is withdrawn from the material. I

2. The-combination with the shovel end of a conveyer held in horizontalengaging posidisplacmg means.

3. The combination with the shovel end of a conveyer having means for moving material upwardly thereover to the conveyer, of

fixed material-displacingmeans applied to opposite sides of and in part rigidly project ing horizontally in advanceofthe front extremity of said shovelend and provided with rigid material displacing means integrally formed therewith, each attachment being longitudinally adjustable with relation to the shovel end to modify the projection thereof relatively to the shovel end.

4%. The combination with a horizontally disposed shovel end at the front extremity of a conveyer having means for moving material thereover into engaging position by the conveyer, of a rigid attachment secured to each side and projecting in advance of the front extremity of the shovel end, the attachments having fixed penetrating wedge means With angular portions of the same transverse extent as the attachments to draw material towards the shovel end.

5. The combination With a conveyer hav ing a shovel end at its forward extremity provided with means movable thereover to dispose material in engaging position relatively to the conveyer, of displacing attachments applied to the shovel end and having a straight projection in advance of the said end, said displacing attachments having one or more fixed Wedge devices on the upper edges thereof for penetrating material and also drawing the said material towards the shovel end when the latter is withdrawn for resetting purposes said wedge devices being of the same transverse extent as the displac in attachments.

11 testimony whereof We have hereiuito set our hands in presence of two subscribing witnesses.

FRANCIS K. HOLMESTED. THURSTON W. MITCHELL. Witnesses:

STARR SADLER, BLANOHE BROMLEY. 

